New Music for Virtuosos
Liner Notes   Cat. No. 80541     Release Date: 1998-01-01

Stuart Dempster, trombone; Harvey Sollberger, flute; Bertram Turetzky, bass; William O. Smith, clarinet; Donald Sinta, saxophone; and others

New Music for Virtuosos is an important document for anyone interested in the evolution of American new music in the 70s and beyond. It features the work of eight composers and artists collaborating to create new music of a startling and expressive originality while stretching the boundaries, technical and expressive, of their respective instruments.

Harvey Sollberger's Sunflowers [1976], for flute and vibraphone, is a gentle, quasi-mystical tour-de-force of stark, beautiful sonorities. Robert Morris's Motet on Doo-dah [1973], for flute, piano, and bass, links twelve-tone technique with fourteenth-century French isorhythmic motet style and ornamentation from Korean court music. Its cantus firmus is Stephen Foster's Camptown Races.

Robert Hall Lewis wrote Inflections I [1969], for solo bass, for Bertram Turetzky. It is a theme and variations subtly juxtaposing contrasting rhythmic and timbral elements. Ralph Shapey's Conflagrations [1964], for flute and piano, is characteristically dense, intense, and lyrical. Andrew Imbrie and Robert Erickson wrote Three Sketches [1967], for trombone and piano, and General Speech [1969], for solo trombone, for Stuart Dempster. Both demonstrate Dempster's extraordinary blend of musicality, passion, and seemingly limitless technical prowess.

William O. Smith, better known as Bill Smith, helped Dave Brubeck found the Brubeck Octet, with which he played for several years. Fancies for Clarinet Alone [1969], is a series of multiphonic studies for solo clarinet. Leslie Bassett's Music for Saxophone and Piano [1968], is a free chromatic piece which uses the sax in a very fluid manner, with a wide tonal and dynamic range.

Various Artists

New Music for Virtuosos

MP3/320 $16.00
FLAC $16.00
WAV $16.00
CD-R+ $25.00
CD-R+ titles come in a jewel case with print booklet.                         Liner Notes
A *.pdf of the notes may also be accessed here free of charge.

Track Listing

Sunflowers
Harvey Sollberger
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Motet on Doo-dah
Robert Morris
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Inflections I
Robert Hall Lewis
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Configurations
Ralph Shapey
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Three Sketches
Andrew Imbrie
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General Speech
Robert Erickson
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Fancies for Clarinet Alone
William Overton Smith
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Music for Saxophone and Piano
Leslie Bassett
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